Newsletter (Page 13)

The 2% Way

When I arrived at FSU back in 2007, one of the names that I heard pretty regularly was “Myron Rolle”. Myron was playing safety for the Seminoles football team those years. While Myron was here, he qualified for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford where he earned a masters of…

Cinco de Mayo

Today is May the 5th, Cinco de Mayo if you’re saying that in Spanish. It’s a day when the Mexican restaurant near me braces for incoming hordes of people ordering tacos and margaritas. Ask them why they are there and they will just say, “well, it’s Cinco de Mayo.” Ask them why that makes any difference,…

Where are you trying to get?

This morning as I was walking across campus I encountered a mom who was trying to get someplace — the problem was that she was trying to get there via the walkway that runs between the Health Center and the Student Success Center, and then trying to make a left turn onto the Woodward legacy…

To the ends of the Earth

We just had Easter Sunday, but I’m going to ask you to think 40 days into the future from that event – to the moment of Ascension. In that moment, recorded in Acts 1, we hear Jesus tell His disciples that they will receive power from the Holy Spirit and that they will be “My…

Not Ashamed

“I’m not ashamed of you, I’m proud of you!….I just don’t want anyone to see you.” That great line comes from the fun 1994 movie, “The Little Rascals” where Alfalfa, a little boy who has a membership in the “He Man Woman Haters Club”, is trying to hide away his would-be girlfriend in a closet…

Negative Packing List

My wife, Liz, loves packing lists. I’m not saying that she loves packing. Rather, what she likes is to put together the list of what needs to be packed. She likes to think ahead and consider what might be necessary for any trip that I am taking or that we are taking as a family.…

A Sampler of the Spirit

In 1912, Whitman’s Chocolates and Confections company began production of the product that is now the only thing that is known by the Whitman’s brand: the Whitman’s Sampler. Now I’m no snob when it comes to chocolate, but the Whitman’s Sampler was probably the first box of assorted chocolates that I really remember. Maybe you’re…

A Taste of the Stew

You know those self-serve kiosks that keep on popping up in grocery stores and fast food restaurants? Well, I’m pretty sure those are the work of the devil. Here’s why. In the early 1800’s, a Jewish preacher and teacher named Rabbi Haim taught a village of Lithuanians an interesting allegory for life. He said that…

St. Patrick’s Day

The other day, my three year old daughter Willow told me that it “wasn’t Valentine’s Day” anymore. I chuckled and then asked her, “well, what day IS it, Willow?” She didn’t quite know, so she looked around and saw that Liz and the other girls had put up some shamrock decorations for St. Patrick’s day.…

Measuring UP for Lent

This past week we started our new sermon series on “Measuring UP” for Lent. The idea of the series is that we would measure ourselves against God, and finding ourselves unable to measure up to God, going to Him for His immeasurable mercy. One of the things that I’m playing around with this Lent is…